Iked-out Lady Pack fall to Tell City

October 01, 2008With electricity out and the Crawford County gymnasium dark and closed, the Lady Pack volleyball team got little to no practice time in before their match last Wednesday night. That may have had a lot to do with the three-game whipping they got by visiting Tell City.

"We've had a week off with no practice and just coming back in and we're just regrouping again," Trotter said. "We even lost our mentality, thinking volleyball. They took the week off, with most families not having electricity or anything else. We held one practice that week, and we just had trouble getting girls out. I think coming back in, whether it should hurt us or not, it's what we're using as the excuse right now."

Crawford took an early lead, but three hitting errors led to a 7-6 Lady Marksmen lead. Tell City followed with a 6-1 run for a 13-7 advantage. The Lady Pack closed within two, 14-12, following a service ace by Brooke Howerton. Tell City made another run for a 21-16 lead. From there, the Lady Marksmen controlled for the 25-18 win.

"We're trying to switch some things up, not only with the hurricane, but we've switched our setter," Trotter said. "We're trying to move on and do that, and we think it's the right move to make. Due to a loss, we've not had a girl at practice. It's just been hard to regroup and get back into this teamwork. They're a great, tight team. I think if we can get ourselves just back into being aggressive, coming out and being 110 percent, we can turn this team back around."

Like game one, the Lady Pack grabbed a 5-1 lead in game two. Tell City then ripped off six straight points to lead by two. Kim Holzbog killed for another Crawford lead, but the Lady Pack then committed four straight errors. Lauren Goffinet added a kill, and Tell City's lead was 13-8. The Lady Marksmen dominated from that point on, getting the 25-14 win.

Tell City then controlled game three, 25-12, for the match win.

"I felt like Tell City was a great team," Trotter said, "but I felt like Crawford County beat ourselves tonight."

Kayla Toney led Crawford with four kills. Taylor Cox had three kills and two service aces, and Kayla Parr and Holzbog had three kills each. Crawford missed three serves, but had five aces on serve. The big number was hitting errors, with 36 mistakes.

"Our hitting was our biggest problem tonight," Trotter said. "According to our hitting stat sheets, we had 15 hitting errors in the first (game), eight in the second, and 13 in the third. That's automatic points you're giving them. … Our serves were consistent, but they really didn't hurt Tell City either."

Goffinet led Tell City with 11 kills, while Elizabeth Kohnert and Brittney Harth finished with six kills each. Tell City missed just two serves in the three games and had nine aces. The Lady Marksmen also kept their errors down with just 16 for the match.

"We're going to move forward," Trotter said. "We had a great talk tonight. It was about teamwork, and we're ready to regroup and get past this middle-of-the-season slump. They've been pretty down on themselves."

"This needs to end," she said. "Two weeks ago, we were a powerhouse. This past week we've not been, so our plan to is change that and come in with 110 percent desire."